On October 21, 1995, Remzi Hoxha was forcibly abducted from his workplace in Tirana. Thirty-one years have now passed, but it is still not known where the remains of the activist for the Albanian national cause are located. His family continues to demand answers and justice from Albanian institutions.
For the family, clarifying his fate and finding his remains remain an ongoing demand, with the aim of giving Hoxha a grave.
Të lidhura
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On the anniversary of his abduction, his son, Ardian Hoxha, once again called on Albania’s justice authorities to fully clarify the case and determine where his father’s remains are located.
“On October 21, 1995, my father, Remzi Hoxha, was abducted from his workplace in the middle of Tirana, in broad daylight, by people from Sali Berisha’s SHIK. He was tortured, killed and his body was disappeared. The Albanian court stated this in a final ruling. So the state knows who took him, who tortured him and who killed him. There is only one thing it has not told us for 31 years: where they left him,” Ardian Hoxha declared.
The family is seeking concrete action from the institutions to bring the clarification of the case to a conclusion. Their demand has been addressed to the Prosecutor’s Office and the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK). They are calling for the archives of the former National Intelligence Service (SHIK) to be opened, searches for the remains to resume, and people who may have information about the incident to be questioned.
Ardian Hoxha also appealed to Albania’s prime minister not to remain silent on an issue that has weighed on the family for three decades. He stressed that their demand is not connected to revenge or political interests, but to the right to know the truth and secure a grave for his father.
Remzi Hoxha, who was originally from North Macedonia, was an activist for the Albanian national cause and had lived in Albania since 1992. On October 21, 1995, men dressed in civilian clothes abducted him. According to reports, the vehicle used in the incident was linked to SHIK at the time.
Judicial investigations concluded that Hoxha had died in October 1995 as a result of torture inflicted by intelligence service employees. His body, however, was never found, and the possible location of his remains was never determined.
In November 2012, Albania’s Serious Crimes Court sentenced Ilir Kumbaro in absentia to 15 years in prison over the abduction and murder of Remzi Hoxha. Arben Sefgjini and Avni Koldashi were found guilty, but benefited from an amnesty.
